Frozen Hearts II
by Christine M. Greenleaf
Summary: The day Victor Freeze has dreamed about is at hand - he has found a cure for his beloved wife Nora and returns her to life. But far from solving all his problems, this only creates new ones, as he fears Nora will reject the monster he has become. And even if she doesn't, will it ever be possible for them to be together again?
1. Chapter 1

**Frozen Hearts II**

_He was in a castle of ice and snow, set alone on a mountaintop, distant and cold, surrounded by the silence of desolation. As he moved through the shimmering corridors, mocking in their reflection of his mutated form, he saw no soul but himself, and felt nothing but emptiness. He was utterly alone, and trapped in a maze of neverending winter, and the cold, lifeless ice._

_ "Victor," said a voice, a voice full of the sweet tones of spring, of love and light and laughter. He looked up to see her standing there, his angel, surrounded by a halo of light as if the sun itself shone out of her. The smile on her beautiful lips, warm and red and alive, was brighter than the light shining from her, and her beautiful blue eyes, shimmering with life and love, seemed to give him renewed hope. It transformed his cold prison into a gorgeous, magical, radiant palace as he breathed her name on his frozen lips: "Nora."_

_ She held out a hand to him and he raced toward her, catching her in his arms and kissing her, feeling love and warmth radiating from her body…feeling…_

_ But he had forgotten what love and warmth felt like. In his prison of ice, such tender feelings had been crushed, and when he kissed her and held her, he tasted only cold lips and icy skin. "Nora!" he gasped, horrified. "Nora, my love, what have I done to you?!"_

_ For she stared back at him with frozen eyes, her entire body cold and blue and opaque, trapped in a lifeless block of ice forever. Her smile had gone, to be replaced with a look of fear and horror, caught forever in her cold, crystal eyes. "Nora!" he shouted. "Nora, no! No!"_

"No!" roared Victor Fries, starting up from bed suddenly. He stared around him, wide-eyed, in the darkness, as his sight adjusted to the familiar surroundings of his cell in Arkham Asylum. His breathing steadied as his panic gradually faded – it had been a dream, a nightmare, nothing more.

"A nightmare," he whispered, burying his face in his hands. "Nothing more."

But this wasn't strictly true. The circumstances of the dream were basically his reality – since the accident that had transformed Dr. Victor Fries into Mr. Freeze, he was encased entirely in a world of ice and snow, able to survive only at sub-zero temperatures. His cell in Arkham had a temperature control especially for that purpose. And his beautiful wife Nora was there with him in his cell, only…she was more dead than alive.

His eyes drifted over to the stasis tube against the wall, where Nora lay asleep, frozen, waiting for her cure so she could live again. She had been sleeping for many years, like the princess in the fairy tale, and just as beautiful. Freeze wondered if she would ever wake up – each year that passed took its toll on his hope, but he had vowed never to give up until she was free of her ice prison. At least one of them could be.

He stood up, coming over to stand next to her. A peaceful smile was on her beautiful lips – it had been frozen there since the day he had said goodbye to her. He lay a hand against the glass over her cheek. "I'm so sorry, my love," he murmured. "Every day I live without you is another day I have failed you. And every night without you is hell on earth. A cold, icy, lonely hell."

She never responded – just continued to smile serenely, and this gave him courage and hope. He planted a kiss over her lips on the glass and then turned away from her, to his work table. He wasn't going to sleep again after such a nightmare, so work was the only alternative.

Strictly speaking, he wasn't allowed any kind of chemicals or equipment in Arkham, but the head doctor, Dr. Leland, had bent the rules to allow him to keep his materials with him. She had a lot of sympathy for Freeze's situation and assumed, correctly, that Freeze only committed crimes in order to have funds to continue his work. If he was provided with the materials he needed, he would have no desire to escape from Arkham, and this had proved to be true. Freeze was eternally grateful to Dr. Leland for her kindness, though he would never show it – he never showed emotion to anyone, except Nora.

He sat down at his work table, opening his notebook. The disease that afflicted his wife was complex – it was a very virulent form of cancer, which had infected her blood and spread rapidly. He had frozen it in its tracks, but if Nora were ever removed from stasis, she would be dead in a matter of weeks. And there was no cure for it. No matter how hard he worked and how close he came to developing one, the actual cure seemed to elude him. Just as the disease was complex, the theoretical process for generating a cure was equally complex. But Freeze was never giving up hope.

He collected the chemicals together, lighting a Bunsen burner and mixing them. Even the small heat from the tiny flame was like a blast of a desert wind on his flesh, but he ignored it, stirring the compound. He brought it to a boil and then removed it from the heat, studying the mixture under his microscope and waiting until the chemical had cooled to add the next ingredient.

And then a thought struck him. "I wonder if…" he began, reaching for his freeze ray. He shot a blast of ice at the compound, freezing it suddenly, and then slowly injected the new ingredient into it. The chemical slowly trickled in, mixing and merging with the compound. Freeze watched with baited breath as he gradually applied heat, melting the mixture, and then looked again at the microscope.

He didn't dare get his hopes up as he reached for a syringe, collecting the compound in it and bringing it over to Nora's tube. She had an IV in her wrist, and Freeze injected the compound into this. He studied the monitors attached to the tube, reporting on her vital signs and the progress of the cancer. There was no change since the injection of the drug, and his heart sank.

"I'm so sorry, my love," he whispered, kneeling down in front of her. She floated above him, like an angel, forever untouchable, forever unreachable, forever beautiful. "I've failed you again. But one day, I swear to you, my precious wife," he said, raising his eyes to her peaceful face. "One day I swear, you will awaken in warmth and light and life. But for now, there is only cold and ice," he whispered, bowing his head. "And for me, it is eternal."

A tear escaped his eye, and froze on his cheek. But Nora remained smiling.


	2. Chapter 2

Freeze awoke the next morning where he had drifted off to sleep – on the stone floor of his cell, kneeling in front of Nora's tube. He saw his beautiful wife in front of him and was filled with bittersweet feelings – while her smile always made him happy, it was also a reminder of his continual failure.

He straightened up, planting a kiss on the glass over her smiling lips. "Good morning, my love," he whispered. "Another dawn brings another chance for you. I shall begin work immediately…"

He trailed off as he caught sight of her monitors. There had been a change in the cancer. It had diminished.

He raced closer, studying to make sure he wasn't fooling himself. But he wasn't. There was a definite decrease in the size of one of her tumors. He manipulated the camera, wondering if it was a fluke, but it wasn't. Some of the tumors had disappeared entirely overnight, and the ones that remained were already growing smaller. "Oh…my God," he whispered. "I've done it."

The realization swept over him like a tidal wave, literally knocking him back by the strength of his feelings. Victory and relief were immediately replaced with fear and panic – he had dreamed of nothing else but this for years, and now that it was finally here, he realized how little he had prepared himself for it. What would Nora think when she woke up and saw him like this? How could he possibly deal with her shock, and perhaps her fear of him? How could he possibly explain to her what he had done, what he had become for her sake?

He sobbed in agony at the thought of her face, her beautiful face, falling in horror when she saw him. He began banging on the door, ringing the bell that summoned the guards. "I need to speak to Dr. Leland!" he cried when they opened the door to his cell. "At once!"

…

"I have never seen Freeze so agitated," said one of his guards to Dr. Leland, who was seated in her office.

"Freeze agitated?" repeated Dr. Leland, raising her eyebrows. "That _is _unusual. Did he say why?"

"He only said he had to speak to you urgently," replied the guard.

Dr. Leland nodded. "Let him in," she said.

The guard opened the door to reveal Mr. Freeze in his customary suit, which he had to wear to survive in normal temperatures. "Leave us," he ordered the guard coldly, in his filtered voice.

"Do as he says," said Dr. Leland. The guard shrugged, leaving the room and shutting the door behind him. "Please have a seat, Victor," said Dr. Leland, gesturing to the chair across from her.

He obeyed. His face behind his helmet was his usual stern expression, but Dr. Leland thought she saw his lips twitching nervously, and flickers of agitation running across his face. "How can I help you?" she asked.

He opened his mouth to respond, and then hesitated, which was completely unlike him. Dr. Leland saw definite signs of agitation now. "I have found…a cure for my wife," he said at last, haltingly.

Dr. Leland stared at him in shock. "Well, that's wonderful news!" she exclaimed, beaming. "Congratulations, Victor…"

"It is…difficult for me to…process what this means," he said, slowly, ignoring her. "I wish her to wake up, you see, only…she cannot wake up here, in a cold cell surrounded by bars and stone and madness. And she cannot…see me. At least, not right away…the shock might be too much for her…to see…what I've become…"

He trailed off, choking on a sob. This was completely unheard of for Freeze, and Dr. Leland thought she saw tears in his eyes. "Victor, I don't think…" she began gently.

"I cannot have her see me…like this," he interrupted, firmly. "I cannot. She must be taken to a hospital, someplace safe and warm, and I will write her a letter to be delivered to her when she is strong enough explaining…my situation. If you could deliver that letter to her personally, I would be…eternally grateful."

"Oh…yes, Victor, of course," said Dr. Leland. "But are you sure you wouldn't rather see her yourself? I'm sure after she wakes up she'll be eager to see her husband…"

"Not like this," he interrupted. "I…am not her husband now, you see. No woman could be married to this…thing…this creature…"

He sobbed again, burying his face in his hands. Dr. Leland had never seen Freeze cry. Nobody except Nora ever had.

"I…I will encourage her in my letter to leave me," he murmured. "To remarry – I only want her to be happy. And she cannot be happy carrying on a sham of a marriage to this frozen shell. I will tell her it may be for the best that she never sees me again. She might…she might be afraid of me, and I would rather die than see her face gazing at me in horror…"

"Victor, I have never met Nora, but I cannot believe that she would ever be so superficial as to stop loving you just because you've changed a little physically," retorted Dr. Leland.

"Changed a little physically?" repeated Freeze, glaring up at her. "I cannot live outside sub-zero temperatures! She could never live with me again, let alone touch me or…"

He sighed again, burying his face in his hands. "I have become a monster," he murmured. "Both inside and out. My precious Nora is an angel on earth, and I will not doom her to some half-life with a monster. I will not allow her to waste her life and love on someone who is already dead. I cannot be so selfish."

Dr. Leland nodded slowly. "I will respect your wishes, Victor, and get Nora to a hospital," she said. "I will also deliver your letter to her. But what if she wants to see you anyway? Should I allow her to come here?"

"Here?" he said. "I…suppose so. If she insists. But explain to her that it would not be a good idea, that it would better for her to think of me as…dead. Because I am. I am."

Dr. Leland was about to argue when he stood up suddenly. "I thank you for your time, and for your cooperation, Dr. Leland," he said, in his usual flat monotone. "I will write my letter and deliver it to you in a timely fashion. Good day to you."

He headed for the door, where the guards were waiting to escort him back to his cell. Dr. Leland sighed. "I'm sure your wife is not going to be as obedient as you hope she will, Victor," she muttered to herself. "And I'm pretty sure she's not going to leave you without a fight."


	3. Chapter 3

Nora Fries awoke slowly, her eyes flickering as they adjusted to the light. It was a blur of brightness that gradually focused into an overhead light, shadeless and cold, like the kind you might find in a hospital.

"Mrs. Fries?" said a voice. Nora blinked, looking over at her bedside to see an unfamiliar woman seated there, in a lab coat.

"Yes, I…" she began, or at least that's what she intended to say, but her voice caught in her throat. She tried to sit up, but her arms wouldn't obey – her muscles felt as heavy as lead.

"You won't be able to move or speak very well for a little while," said the woman, gently. "It's a natural part of the unfreezing process. But you can hear me?"

Nora managed to give a small nod. Her mind was whirling with thoughts, trying to remember what had happened to her. It was like waking from a very deep sleep, and trying to remember what you had dreamed about. The woman had said something about an unfreezing process, which meant she must have been…frozen. Why…

And her memory suddenly came flooding back. "Victor!" she gasped out, in a raspy voice. "Where…is Victor?"

The woman smiled sadly. "Your husband asked me to deliver this to you," she said, placing a letter on her nightstand. "He asked that you read it when you're feeling strong enough."

"Why…isn't he here?" she gasped. "What's happened to him? He's…he's not dead, is he?"

She smiled sadly again. "No," she murmured. "No, he's not dead. Now I think you'd better try to relax and recover your strength, Mrs. Fries. My name is Dr. Joan Leland, and if you need anything after you've read the letter, please don't hesitate to contact me at Arkham Asylum."

"Arkham…Asylum?" repeated Nora, slowly. "Why…why are you…Victor's not…crazy…what would Victor be doing in Arkham Asylum?"

"I'm sure he can explain it better than I can," replied Dr. Leland, gently. "But try to rest now…"

"No!" she gasped, making a colossal effort to sit up, and managing to struggle up onto the pillows in a sitting position. "No…I won't rest…until I know…that Victor's ok."

Dr. Leland's heart melted at the worry and tears in her eyes. "Please," Nora whispered. "Please…read his letter to me."

Dr. Leland hesitated for a moment, and then nodded, sitting back down and opening up the letter. Her voice faltered as she read its contents aloud to Nora.

_My beautiful wife,_

_ I hope you can forgive me for who I have become, and what I have done. Everything I did was for you, you must believe that. I never once acted out of selfishness, except for the selfishness of my love for you, which would not allow you to remain cold and lifeless if it was in my power to prevent it. I told you once that I'd sacrifice anything and anyone for your sake, and I have, my beloved Nora. I have sacrificed myself._

_ Shortly after you went into stasis, I suffered an accident. I believe, looking back, it would be better if I had died, except then I could not have restored you to life, and that, to me, is worth everything I have suffered and more. To know that you are alive again, that you can feel the sun on your skin and enjoy the warmth of a summer's breeze – this gladdens my heart above all else, and makes my damnation a light burden. But if ever man was damned on earth, I am that man, Nora._

_I am no longer able to exist outside of sub-zero environments, and I have to remain otherwise at all times encased in a protective suit which regulates my body temperature to the frozen conditions I need to survive. My contact with the earth and all things in it is over forever. My world is only ice and snow, cold and bleak and empty now. I lived only to make you live again, and now that you are once more radiant and warm and alive, I wish I could die. I hope you will never have to see me as I am, this freak of nature, this monster. _

_Yes, I am a monster, Nora – I have the appearance of one, and I have acted as one. There is nothing I have not done in my quest to restore you to life – I have taken hundreds of lives as payment for yours. They didn't matter. Only you mattered, my angel, my wife. And while it pains me beyond reason to say goodbye to you, I know in my heart that you can move on and will be happy without me. There is yet sunshine in your life, which has gone completely from mine. You were my only sunshine, Nora, and I am happy to have restored you to the beautiful world where you belong. But it can no longer be my world. _

_We had such happy days, my love. Days of sunshine and summer and laughter. You will have them yet. I will not. But I will remember forever what it was like to love you, and I do not regret anything I have done for that love. It is everything to me, Nora, as you are. Please do not try to see me again – it would destroy me to see your face when you saw the monster I have become. But please try to be happy, for my sake. I will always be happy remembering you are you were, and as I hope you will continue to be – dancing in the sunshine with flowers in your golden hair, as if they belonged there. As if all that is beautiful and warm and good came from you. That is certainly true for my life, and I thank you for making me the luckiest of men. I love you, my angel. I love you, I love you, I love you forever._

_Victor. _

Dr. Leland finished reading and looked up to see tears flowing down Nora's cheeks. "Is it…true?" she whispered.

Dr. Leland nodded slowly. "Oh God!" Nora gasped. "Oh my God! Victor!"

She burst into tears, choking on loud sobs. "Oh, my poor Victor!" she whispered. "My poor, poor love! What have I done to you?!"

"Mrs. Fries, you shouldn't blame yourself," murmured Dr. Leland. "It was a tragic accident that happened to your husband – nobody could have prevented it. And who's to say what lengths we'd all go to in order to save the ones we love?"

"I should have been there – I could have protected him," she whispered. "He's such a gentle man, really…such a gentle, sweet man…but the world's been very cruel to him, and he can't help but fight back. It's in his nature, fighting back. He's had to do it his whole life, against the people who have tried to hurt him, and beat him down, and…oh my God, my poor, brave love!"

She looked up at Dr. Leland. "How can I help him?" she whispered. "I'll do anything, Dr. Leland, you have to believe that. Anything!"

"He told me in person, and he said in his letter – he wants you to leave him and move on," she murmured. "Pretend he's dead and try to find someone else…"

"He always was an idiot," she said, forcing a smile. "He must know I'm not going to do that. I have to see him, Dr. Leland. Please."

She nodded slowly. "Try to recover your strength, and I'll arrange a meeting. But I warn you, he has changed very much appearance-wise…"

"Do you think it matters to me how he looks?" interrupted Nora. "My husband is my husband, Dr. Leland. And I love him. It doesn't matter to me how he's changed – I won't stop loving him. Victor must understand that."

"I don't think he will until you tell him yourself," said Dr. Leland. "But I do hope you can help him. Most of our inmates don't have much of a chance at rehabilitation. Now that you're…back, I believe Victor might. If you wanted him to."

"Yes," she said. "Yes, of course. I'll do anything. I mean, if he gets released we can…live somewhere together, and we can get a special room for him that's…that's frozen and he can stay there and I can…take care of him…"

Tears began trickling down her face. "I mean, it…it won't be perfect, but we'll make it work," she said, firmly. "We'll be together. And that's all that matters."

Dr. Leland sincerely hoped that she was right.


	4. Chapter 4

Nora Fries stood on the front steps of Arkham Asylum, gazing up at its imposing façade and feeling her heart breaking at the fact that her husband was confined in such a terrible place. She was shaking in fear and nervousness and anticipation, at the sight of the building, and at seeing her husband again after all this time. She didn't really know how long it had been – none of the doctors at the hospital could tell her how long she had been in stasis. But what she had said to Dr. Leland was true – it didn't matter what her husband looked like. She loved him. And she was determined to help him, however she could.

She nodded firmly, pushing open the doors to the asylum. "Uh…hi," she stammered at the reception desk. "I'm Nora Fries, and I'm here to see…"

The front doors were thrown open again and Batman stormed in, dragging the Joker and Harley Quinn behind him in handcuffs. The receptionist instantly picked up the telephone. "Dr. Leland, Batman's brought the clowns back," she said.

"I don't like how we're always referred to as 'the clowns,' puddin'," said Harley, turning to Joker. "We need some kinda couple name to refer to us, like Brangelina."

"Who the hell is Brangelina?" asked Joker, puzzled.

"Do you think we should go with Joley, or Harker?" continued Harley. "Whaddya think, Bats?"

"I think you should shut up," growled Batman.

"Hey, there's no need to be rude, Bats," said Joker. "It's a valid question. What kinda couple name do you and Kitty want? Pussybat?"

"I said shut up!" snapped Batman, striking him across the face.

Joker sniffed. "He's just touchy 'cause we killed all those people, pooh, don't take it personally," he said, patting Harley's cuffed hand.

"I think we should go with Joley, puddin'," she said. "No, Harker. Aw, I can't decide! Which one do you like, blondie?" she asked, smiling at Nora suddenly.

"Uh…what?" stammered Nora.

"Hey, haven't seen you around here before, sweetheart," said Joker, grinning at her. "Although you do look kinda familiar, come to think of it. You being committed or just visiting?"

"Uh…I'm visiting…my husband," said Nora, slowly.

"Oh yeah? Anyone I know?" asked Joker. "Don't think many of the freaks in here are married, come to think of it. Probably the root of their problem, buncha repressed weirdos. And I gotta say, having showered with most of 'em, any woman they married would be pretty disappointed. Well, if you don't mind my saying, sweetheart, if I had a wife who looked like you, they wouldn't be able to keep me locked up in here away from you," he added, grinning.

"Mr. J, I'm right here!" snapped Harley, glaring at him.

"Would you rather I did this behind your back?" he asked, shrugging.

"I would rather you didn't do it at all!" she retorted. "I'm his girlfriend, toots, so don't go getting any ideas!" she said, glaring at Nora. "I ain't gonna let you break up Joley or Harker!"

"N…no, I don't want to…do that," said Nora, slowly. "I'm very happily married to Victor Fries."

Joker stared at her. "Oh, you're the Ice Dame!" he exclaimed, beaming. "I knew you looked familiar! Last time I saw you, sweetheart, you were pretty dead-looking. Good to see those roses back in your cheeks! You look a lot better when you're not frozen in a block of ice, but then I guess everyone kinda would," he chuckled. "So you're here for your conjugal visit, huh? That's gotta be pretty unpleasant and cold…"

"Thank you, Batman, I'll take them from here," said Dr. Leland, appearing suddenly with a group of guards, who dragged Joker and Harley off.

"If you want a guy with some body heat sometime, call me, toots!" called Joker after her. "Ow!" he shouted, as they heard Harley slap him.

"And Nora, how lovely to see you again," said Dr. Leland, smiling kindly at her. "Do you know Batman?"

"Erm…I've heard of him, of course," said Nora. That was a good sign – maybe she hadn't been out of it too long. "Nice to meet you."

Batman studied her. "You're Nora Fries?" he asked, gently.

She nodded. "I've gone up against your husband many times, Mrs. Fries," he said, softly. "I've often questioned his actions, but I could never question his love for you. That was his one constant, curing you. I'm glad to see he finally succeeded."

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "I hope you can find some kind of happiness together," he murmured. "I truly do."

He turned and left. "Right this way, Nora," said Dr. Leland, leading her down the corridors of the asylum. "Victor wanted to see you in his cell, so that he doesn't have to wear his suit and can look as normal as possible. So I've got an extra thick coat for you to put on since his cell temperature is freezing…"

"Thanks, Dr. Leland, but I'll just try to get used to it," interrupted Nora. "I'm going to have to, after all."

Dr. Leland nodded slowly. "Well…uh…call me if you need anything," she said. "There's a button by the door. And…uh…good luck with him," she said, unlocking the door to Freeze's cell.

The icy temperature hit Nora like a fist, and she gasped for breath, watching it crystallize in the frozen air. Dr. Leland offered her the coat again but she shook her head, entering the cell and trying to control her shivering by folding her arms across her chest. The door shut behind her and she looked around at the ice coating every inch of the room, making it shimmer.

And then she saw him, sitting on his bed and looking up at her. "Hello, Nora," he whispered.

There was the same adoration in his eyes as there always had been. Nora felt tears creep out of her eyes and freeze on her cheeks as she looked at her husband, changed, it was true, but still very obviously the man she loved.

"Victor!" she gasped, racing over to him and throwing herself into his arms. She gasped at the shock of embracing him – his body was icy cold, but she didn't draw back, clasping her arms tightly around his neck. She looked at his face and then kissed him passionately. It was again a shock to her – his lips were like ice, but he moaned at the touch of hers, pulling her tightly against him and trying to savor her warmth, even though it burned him as his icy touch burned her.

He drew away at last with a gasp, burying his face against her shoulder and sobbing into the crook of her neck. She held him and soothed him, letting him cry frozen tears, and trying to ignore the shivering against this onslaught of cold.

"Oh, Victor, I missed you so much," she whispered.

"Oh, Nora," he gasped, his voice shaking. "Nora, my love…"

He drew back, touching her face and raising it up to his, so he could look at her. Nora couldn't control the chattering in her teeth - his fingers were like icicles against her flesh and he noticed, releasing her at once.

"You're…still so beautiful," he whispered, gazing at her longingly but not daring to touch her again.

"And you told me you'd become a monster," she said, forcing a smile. "But you're hardly the Wolfman, are you, Victor?"

"No, I am worse," he retorted. "Cursed to be like this not only when the moon is full, but for all time."

"Don't talk like that," said Nora, gently. "If there was a cure for me, Victor, there could be one for you…"

"You think I have not tried to find one?" he asked. "Aside from your recovery, my love, it was my only other interest. The effects of my transformation are permanent. We must both resign ourselves to that fact."

"There's my gloomy Mr. Raincloud," she sighed, still forcing a smile. "I was hoping a little of my optimism might have rubbed off on you, Victor."

"I have had so little to be optimistic about over the past ten years," he murmured.

"Is that how long...I've been frozen?" she whispered, trying to comprehend it.

He nodded. "If you knew what I have been through, what I have done…"

"It's over now, Victor," she said, gently but firmly, taking his face in her hands. He flinched at her burning fingers. "I'm here. And I'm not leaving you again."

"You…you should," he stammered, drawing away with tears in his eyes. "Look at us, Nora. We cannot even touch each other. You can't even be near me without shivering."

"I'll get used to it," she replied, shrugging. "I just have to build up my tolerance for cold. And I'm sure I will, with time and practice."

"Nora, it doesn't work like that," he said, gently. "Nobody can learn to live in the Arctic just because they try to tolerate cold. The human body can only adapt to certain temperatures, and sub-zero is not one of them."

"Don't attempt to lecture me on ice, Dr. Fries," she retorted. "I was a cryogenic scientist same as you."

"Then you know that what you're saying is nonsense," he murmured gently. "You cannot stay with me, Nora. You have to move on, pretend I'm dead, and find someone else to…"

"Now you're the one talking nonsense," interrupted Nora, angrily. "Don't be ridiculous, Victor. I couldn't move on even if you were dead. I love you."

He shut his eyes. "I have…done so much just to hear those words again from your lips," he whispered, gazing at her.

She smiled. "I love you," she repeated, coming closer to him and embracing him again. "I love you."

He was utterly incapable of resisting her, and he didn't want to, as she enveloped his mouth again. The pain of the extremes of temperatures on their bodies was worth this pleasure. Nora kissed all over his face, burning him in exquisite joy, and he returned her kisses, his hands caressing her face and throat and sliding into her top…

She yelped suddenly, pulling away from him and shivering violently. "Sorry, it's just…cold," she whispered. "I wasn't expecting it…on a sensitive part of my body, but don't stop," she gasped, throwing herself back into his arms. She yelped again, drawing back almost against her will from the iciness of his body. The cold was just too much.

"Nora, we can't," he whispered, tears freezing on his cheeks. "We…we can't. Not like this."

She burst into tears. "I cannot doom you to a marriage of celibacy," he whispered. "If you were to stay with me, we would not be husband and wife. I would be a freak, and you would be my keeper. That is all."

"Oh Victor, that doesn't matter to me," she whispered, wiping her eyes. "I would rather be with you as you are than have a normal marriage with anyone else."

She took his hand, ignoring the chill in her body. "Dr. Leland says you can get yourself out of here. And then we'll find somewhere to live, just the two of us, away from people, somewhere cold…"

"Your plan is impractical," he interrupted. "How would you live there?"

"I'd manage," she replied. "I would have my own room, with blankets and a fireplace…"

"And how would we provide for ourselves?" he asked.

"Well, I could…find a job…"

"How, if we are away from people?"

"I…don't know."

"How would we eat?"

"I don't know."

"How would…"

"I don't know, Victor!" she interrupted, angrily. "But I can't just leave you!"

"You have no choice," he said, firmly. "It is the only practical solution."

"I'm not a practical person," she retorted. "I'm married to a madman, after all," she added, forcing a smile.

He did not smile back. "Victor, please," she murmured. "There has to be some way…"

"There is," he interrupted. "Leave me. Nora, can't you see that I'm only doing this for your own good? I cannot condemn you to a miserable life, not when I worked so hard to save it!"

"And you think I could be happy without you?" she demanded.

"I think you could learn to be, in time," he said, nodding. "You are a wonderful woman, Nora. There is not a man alive who would not be lucky to have you."

"You think I could forget everything you've done for me?" she murmured. "Everything we've shared, our marriage, our love…"

"It is for your own good!" he repeated, louder. "Don't you understand?! If you stayed with me like this, you would grow to hate me! To resent me for keeping you trapped in this lifeless marriage to a frozen creature! I could not bear it, Nora! I could not bear to see hatred in your eyes!"

"I could never hate you, Victor," she whispered. "Never."

He dropped her hand. "It is best that you do," he murmured, coldly. "This is the last time you will see me, Nora. I will refuse to see you if you visit here again. It is the only way you will be able to move on, if you are left with no hope of our being together again."

Nora stared at him. "You would be that cruel to me?" she whispered.

"If it will kill your love for me, yes," he said, firmly.

Tears rose in Nora's eyes again. Then she seized his face in her hands again and kissed him passionately. "It won't," she whispered as she drew away. "Goodbye, Victor."

She stormed from the cell without another word, slamming the door shut behind her. A moment later, Freeze broke down, collapsing onto the bed and sobbing.


	5. Chapter 5

"I'm sorry, Nora, he's absolutely resolute about this," said Dr. Leland, gently. "He won't see you. But he did ask me to give you this."

She handed her a file with Freeze's name on it. "It's…information on all the crimes he's committed," murmured Dr. Leland. "He's hoping if you read about them, you'll begin to see him as the criminal and the monster he thinks he is. And that will destroy your love for him."

Nora took the file carefully. "I…I don't think it will," she stammered. "Is that wrong? I mean, I don't think I could ever think of Victor as a monster, but even if he objectively _is _one…is it wrong of me to still love him?"

Dr. Leland sighed. "You can't help who you love," she murmured. "Even if you don't always approve of the things they do."

"And he did them for me," she murmured. "To save me…maybe I should feel guilty about that, but I don't. I just feel…touched and flattered and…even more in love with him. I…I just know him deep down, Dr. Leland, and he's not what he's become. He's so much more than that. He's a sweet, gentle man who just wants to be happy. I don't know why the world has made that so impossible for him. For us."

She wiped her eyes. "He…he never would have hurt anyone if not for me. But he was desperate…and yes, maybe he did the wrong thing more than he should have. Maybe he was…heartless towards other people. But that's only because his own heart was breaking. I'm not trying to defend him or excuse him, but…I can't hate him, Dr. Leland. I just can't."

Dr. Leland sighed again. "Victor is a very determined man, as I think you know, Nora," she said. "If you can't persuade him of something, nobody else has a chance. And he's convinced himself that cutting off all contact with you is the only way you'll be able to move on and be happy. Perhaps…you should try doing that, for his sake."

"You actually think it would make Victor happy to see me with someone else?" she demanded.

"Rationally? Yes," replied Dr. Leland. "Irrationally, I think the jealousy would consume him and he would become even more depressed and angry than ever, despite his better feelings and more noble nature."

"And you think I could do that to him?" she demanded. "You think I could do that to the man I love?"

Dr. Leland was silent. "I'm not sure what other choice you have, Nora," she said, gently. "I'm no specialist in Victor's condition, but I trust him when he tells me it's incurable. He will be like this for the rest of his life. And what kind of life can you have with a husband who can't be in the same room as you for any length of time unless he's encased in a protective suit? A husband you can't touch without burning him, and freezing yourself?"

Nora was silent. "I won't leave him," she whispered. "Not after all he's done for me. There has to be a way."

"I admire your determination," said Dr. Leland. "I think I can see one of the reasons why you and Victor were so suited to each other. But in this case, maybe you're both being too stubborn for your own good."

"We're like that," replied Nora, nodding. "And we're certainly not about to change now."

She stood up. "Thank you for your time, Dr. Leland. Please tell Victor I love him, but he's an idiot, and I'm going to continue to try to see him every day I can."

Dr. Leland looked at her. "I should theoretically respect Victor's wishes," she said, standing up too. "But if you'll come with me, I'll try to let you see him."

She led Nora down the hall towards the cafeteria. "Uh…just to forewarn you," she said, turning around before she opened the door. "These are lunatics, so…things can get a little crazy at lunch."

Nora was about to ask her what she meant, and then Dr. Leland pushed open the door, and she saw.

"Not that name! I hate that goddamn name!" roared the Joker, who had his hands around Harley Quinn's throat, pinning her down on the ground.

"Ok…puddin'…we'll go with…Joley instead!" gasped Harley.

"We are not having a stupid couple name!" shouted Joker, continuing to throttle her. "You are not one half of my greatness! I'm the Joker! There is no Joley, there is no Harker, there is only the Joker, and his dumb, blonde, insignificant henchwench who didn't even have a name until I gave her one!"

While this was going on, Poison Ivy was attempting to beat Joker over the head with her tray, shrieking and shouting at him to let Harley go, and Two-Face was huddled in a corner, muttering to himself. "There are two people, not one, two people can't have one name, it doesn't make any sense!"

Meanwhile, Edward Nygma and Jonathan Crane were in the middle of a fight, if fight was what such a thing could be called. Neither of the two men were particularly athletic, and now Crane had managed to get Nygma in some kind of headlock as he slammed his face repeatedly into the wall, while Nygma was kicking out at him, screaming, "It _is _a riddle why anyone would want to share a name with Harley! It is, it is, it is!"

Victor Freeze sat alone in a corner of the cafeteria, calmly eating his meal and trying to ignore the chaos around him, watching it all with a bored expression. Nora saw him in his suit for the first time, a man literally isolated from the rest of humanity and the world, and the sight brought tears to her eyes.

He looked up and saw her suddenly, and there was sadness in his own eyes, instantly replaced by rage. "What is the meaning of this?" he roared, in a voice that halted the chaos around him as everyone turned to stare at him. "How dare you disobey my orders, Dr. Leland?!"

"You don't have any authority over me, Victor – you're my patient," replied Dr. Leland, calmly. "And your wife refused to leave until she'd seen you."

"Well, she's seen me now," he growled. "And what a pleasant sight I must be for her. Seeing her husband as this…thing!"

He slammed his fist down on the table, cracking it in two. "Victor, please…" began Nora, but he ignored her and stormed past her out of the room.

Dr. Leland sighed. "I'm sorry – that might have done more harm than good. I just thought he might change his mind if he was confronted with you again."

"Victor doesn't change his mind," murmured Nora, tearing up again. "And neither do I."

She turned and left the asylum without another word.


	6. Chapter 6

"Mr. Boyle, you have a visitor."

Ferris Boyle looked up from the magazine he was reading, shocked. "I have a…what?" he asked.

"A visitor," repeated the prison guard. "If you'd like to follow me to the visiting room, please."

Boyle shrugged, putting down the magazine and obeying. On the journey from his cell to the visiting room, he racked his brain to think of who on earth could possibly want to visit him.

Ferris Boyle had once been a rich, powerful, and beloved man, CEO of Gothcorp, the so-called "People Company." Behind his friendly exterior, however, he was a cold, cruel, heartless, and greedy businessman who had only cared about profit, and saw people as a means to that profit, nothing more. The cryogenic department of Gothcorp had employed both Victor Fries and his wife Nora when Nora had been struck down with her incurable disease. Victor Fries had embezzled funds and equipment from Gothcorp, and used the basement of the company in order to conduct his own experiment in cryostasis to freeze his dying wife. When Boyle had discovered this waste of company money, he had got angry and ordered the project shut down. This had enraged Fries – there had been a struggle, and then Boyle himself had pushed Fries into the chemicals that had caused his accident and turned him into Mr. Freeze.

Some time later, Freeze had tried to take revenge on Boyle by freezing him alive, but had been stopped by Batman, who had acquired the security tape of what had happened in the basement of Gothcorp. Batman had given this tape to a journalist, the story had been all over the media, and Ferris Boyle had gone from Gotham's Humanitarian of the Year to the most hated man in the city. He had been found guilty of attempted murder and sent to a medium security prison just outside of Gotham.

But Boyle to this day didn't believe he had done anything wrong. Fries had been stealing _his _money and _his _equipment for unauthorized experiments – in Boyle's mind, he had had every right to reclaim his property and defend himself from an unstable madman. Sadly this defense didn't get very far against the emotional appeal of the prosecution, labeling Boyle as "the man with the true heart of ice." Still, Boyle had been in prison a decade now, and was hoping his latest parole hearing would prove successful. Surely that was penance enough for supposedly attempting to murder a woman who was already half dead anyway?

It was a great shock to him then when he saw who his visitor was behind the glass. "Oh…my God," he gasped, staring at Nora Fries. "He…he did it."

"Hello, Mr. Boyle," she replied, quietly. "I'm glad you remember me."

He sat down across from her, still staring in astonishment at her. "You're…alive?" he whispered. "How?"

"You can thank my husband for that," she murmured, glaring at him. "And I can thank you for my husband's current condition, can't I?"

"Look, it wasn't my fault," snapped Boyle. "I told the lawyers the same thing I'm telling you – how the hell could I have known what was gonna happen to him? I didn't know what those chemicals could do…"

"I saw the tape," interrupted Nora, coldly. "Don't bother making excuses to me, Ferris. You would have let me die just to save yourself some money…"

"Just to save myself a _fortune_," corrected Boyle. "And why not? You were terminal! Do you have any idea how many millions of dollars your husband sank into keeping a terminally ill woman alive just a little longer? How was your half-life in that tube any more precious than money for new research that could have saved hundreds of lives?"

"Don't pretend you care about anyone's life," said Nora, quietly. "Don't you dare pretend you have even the slightest interest in other people. You've only ever cared about yourself, Ferris. Yourself and your money."

She leaned forward, lowering her voice. "You're lucky I never told Victor how much of a disgusting creep you really are," she murmured. "He wouldn't be content with you being locked up in prison if he knew what you tried to do to me in your office that night. He'd rip off your limbs one by one, and then freeze them back onto your body, and rip them off again."

"C'mon, Nora, I was just trying to have a little fun…" began Boyle.

"You tried to force me to cheat on my husband," she interrupted, icily. "I think you might want to rethink your definition of fun."

"Well, I didn't force you to, in the end," he snapped. "Though I never understood what you saw in the Iceman. Anyway, I imagine you wouldn't refuse me now, baby. Sex between you and Victor must be pretty awkward."

She ignored him, leaning back and looking around the room. "It's a good thing Victor doesn't know how cushy this facility you're being kept in is," she commented. "I've been to his cell in Arkham – this place is a palace compared to that. I'm sure he thinks you're confined in similar circumstances, or he would have ended your life years ago. But it's lucky for me that he didn't."

She leaned forward again. "What happened to the laboratory in the basement of Gothcorp?"

He shrugged. "How the hell should I know? It's probably still there. Gothcorp went outta business after I got put in here – nobody wanted to support the company who created a supervillain. I dunno what happened to the building or the equipment, although my guess is it was just abandoned."

"Did you touch anything after the accident, or did you just leave the crime scene as it was?" asked Nora.

He laughed. "Crime scene!"

"Yes. You murdered my husband," she murmured. "You killed him and replaced him with a man who cannot interact with the real world, who cannot feel the warmth of a loved one, or a summer breeze on his face, or even the trickle of tears down his cheek. A man who can only ever be utterly alone, trapped in a cold, empty world of ice and snow. If that's not a crime, I don't know what is."

Boyle glared back at her. "We sealed up the basement after the accident," he muttered. "As far as I know, nothing was touched. Although you and Victor must have got out somehow, but otherwise, to my knowledge, the room hasn't been disturbed."

Nora nodded, standing up. "Thank you, Mr. Boyle, you've been very helpful."

"I'm glad," he replied, grinning at her. "Like I said, Nora, if you're ever in need of a warm body, I am allowed conjugal visits."

She looked at him. "If there wasn't a thick wall of glass between you and me, I'd break off a piece of it and gouge out your eyes," she whispered. "I'm not a violent woman, Mr. Boyle, and I'd never want you dead. I'd just want you to suffer, as Victor has suffered, as I am suffering right now. I would want you to feel what it is like to lose something beyond precious to you. That's justice, Mr. Boyle. And I hope someday you get a taste of what that really means. Goodbye."

It was shortly after this meeting that Ferris Boyle got into a fight with another prisoner over a game of cards. The other prisoner was much stronger, and beat Boyle violently around the head, resulting in severe brain damage. Boyle lived out the rest of his days in a permanent vegetative state, utterly unresponsive to the world around him, staring straight ahead of him with blank, empty eyes. Nobody ever knew what he was thinking about. Maybe it was justice.


	7. Chapter 7

"You know who I haven't seen around in a while? The Ice Dame," said Joker. "Did you and she have a little spat, Freeze? Trouble in parad'ice'?" he giggled.

Freeze ignored him, regretting yet again his decision to leave his room. But he had locked himself away for weeks, and while he was generally used to being by himself, solitude left him no escape from his thoughts of Nora. Any distraction, however annoying, was a distraction that might knock his thoughts out of their torturous cycle. But he should have known that his fellow inmates would be no help in that regard. Especially not the Joker.

"'Snow' good arguing with women when they get in a mood," continued Joker. "They just need time to chill out and cool off before they let you ice the cake again. But don't worry, Freeze, I'm sure it won't be long before you're frosting that pie."

He looked around. "Who else wants to make puns about Freeze's sex life?"

"Just you, J," said Poison Ivy, not looking up from her magazine.

"I wonder what Victor and Nora's couple name would be," sighed Harley Quinn, pointedly. "Vicra? Or maybe Noter. Those both sound like alien robot names."

"Christ, Harley, don't bring this up again!" growled Two-Face, who was trying to watch TV. "If you have two people, you have two names! It's just nuts otherwise."

"Victor and Nora probably wouldn't want a stupid couple name anyway, because they're both two different people, and wouldn't wanna be condemned to be chained to the other for the rest of their goddamn lives," snapped Joker.

"I am afraid you are mistaken in that, Joker," said Freeze, quietly. "I very happily and voluntarily bound myself to Nora a long time ago. I understand that you are not a decent enough man to marry the girl you have despoiled, but if you were ever to take part in a wedding ceremony, there is a part of the marriage vows about two people becoming one flesh, one soul, and one spirit. And that is true for Nora and me. We may not have combined our names, but she took my name, and we shared our life. And that is what love is – a merging of identities, of two people in an equal partnership sharing one soul, and one life."

Harley had teared up. "That's just beautiful, Victor!" she sobbed. "Ain't it, Mr. J?"

"Yeah, love is making your other half suffer your stupid, punnable name," retorted Joker. "I bet she was thrilled to be stuck with the name Mrs. Freeze. You could call your first kid Re, and your second kid Deep, and your third kid Nuclear…"

"Do not joke about our children," murmured Freeze, softly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, is it a bit of sore point for you, Freezemanator?" chuckled Joker. "Gee, guess it is kinda impossible for the two of you to procreate – I mean, I've heard of getting your sperm frozen, but I think you have to defrost it before it does any good…"

Freeze's temper was swift and brutal. He had seized Joker around the throat and thrown him into the wall in a flash of movement, making the entire wall crack as Joker collided with it. "Not one more word is to be said about my wife!" he roared. "I will not have lunatics like you discuss her! You will never see her again, and neither will I! What is past is past, and Nora and I are through! I am no longer her husband! I am simply a monster!"

"Takes…a lunatic to know…a lunatic, Snow Cone!" gasped Joker, trying to catch his breath.

"You deserve that, Mr. J, for being so unpleasant about Harker and Joley," sniffed Harley.

"What on earth is going on?" demanded Dr. Leland, who had been alerted by the commotion.

"Freeze threw me into a wall," snarled Joker, clutching his chest.

"Did you provoke him?" asked Dr. Leland.

He paused. "Define provoke."

"Never mind, of course you did," sighed Dr. Leland. "Guards, take Joker to the infirmary. Victor, come with me. I'd like a word," she said, nodding toward her office.

"Nora stopped by to drop off this letter – she said to give it to you," said Dr. Leland, going over to her desk and handing him an envelope. "It's up to you whether you choose to read it or not."

Freeze nodded slowly, taking it from her. "She has not…tried to visit me again?"

Dr. Leland shook her head. "No. She may explain why in that letter. Maybe she's respected your wishes after all, and moved on."

Freeze maintained his expressionless face – that was what he had wanted, after all. But even the suggestion that Nora might have moved on caused his heart to snap in a million places, like a brittle icicle melting in the sunlight.

He returned to his cell, leaving his suit on for the time being – he didn't want to postpone reading the letter any longer than necessary. His heart beat in nervousness as he opened it and read the following:

_Victor,_

_ You said there was no way for us to ever be together again, but you and I both know that's not true. There is one way. It probably won't be very pleasant for me, but it's worth it, for your sake. For our sake. It's the only way._

_ You're a smart man, so I'm sure you can figure out what I'm talking about. Remember that I'm a cryogenic scientist same as you. I've spoken to Mr. Boyle about the accident in the basement of Gothcorp, and I've seen the tapes. I know what I have to do, for you. For us. I know if you were in my place, you would do the same for me. _

_ If something goes wrong, I want you to know that I love you with all my heart. If everything goes right, I will see you very soon._

_ Always and forever,_

_ Your loving wife Nora. _

"Nora!" he gasped, the realization slowly hitting him. "Nora…Nora, no!" he roared, slamming his fist against the frozen wall of his cell so that the stone began to crack against the strength of his suit. He continued to smash it desperately as he heard the alarm go off, but no guard would stop him getting to Nora.

The wall caved in, leaving a hole wide enough for Freeze to smash through to freedom. He treated the high wall around the asylum the same way, the bullets of the guards bouncing off his suit. Nothing would stop him getting to Nora. He only prayed he wasn't too late.


	8. Chapter 8

Nora looked around the makeshift laboratory in the basement of Gothcorp, checking all the machines. Her heart was pounding, but she remained calm as she turned to face the tube, a replica of the one she had been encased in for the past decade. She remembered the day Victor had frozen her as if it was yesterday – it had seemed like yesterday to her. She had had no concept of time passing in stasis, but she could only imagine how long and lonely the last ten years had been for her husband. And how he had risked everything for her sake. It was only right that she risk everything for his.

She powered up the dials, and then climbed into the tube, rechecking the settings and holding the remote in her hand. One press of the button, and the restraints locked into place, pinning her arms and legs down. She was about to lower the glass lid and flood both the tube and the room with the Freeze chemical, when she heard a voice shout, "Nora, stop!"

The door to the laboratory banged open, and Freeze stood there. One look at the machines confirmed his worst suspicions, and he raced over to her. "No!" he gasped. "No, no, no, Nora, you can't do this! You can't condemn yourself to this curse of an existence! You don't know what it's like, to be this creature! To never feel sun on your skin, or the wind in your face, or the warm touch of another human being ever again. You're trapped, Nora, trapped in ice, a prisoner of cold and snow. You cannot do that to yourself!"

"What choice do I have, Victor?" she asked, quietly. "What good is any of that without you? You're worth sacrificing those things for. I would rather never feel the sun again than walk outside on a summer's day and think that my husband can never share this with me. As cold and dark as your world is, at least we can be together in it. I don't need sun or warmth when I have you. You are all of that to me."

"Nora, please, you don't understand what agony it is to live like this!" he whispered, tears trailing down his cheeks. "Completely isolated from the rest of the world, the rest of humanity…"

"I don't care about the rest of the world or the rest of humanity," she murmured. "Just like you didn't for me. I love you, Victor. I will be with you, whatever the cost. It seems a small price to pay to spend the rest of my life with the man I love."

"Nora…" he began again, desperately, but she pressed the button, shutting the lid at that moment. A hiss of steam enveloped her as chemicals began pumping into the tube and into the room itself, freezing the very air. "Nora!" he roared, about to break the tube in desperation, but he knew if he broke the glass, if he interrupted the process now, she would die.

Nora's body lurched and she suddenly began screaming in pain as her blood began to react with the chemicals – she felt as if every inch of her body was being frozen within her. A sharp, stabbing pain spread to every part of her, and she writhed against the restraints, but they held firm. Freeze watched in agony at his wife's torment, hearing her muffled screams clearly inside the tube. He stared helplessly at her, tears trailing down his face, until the torture finally ended, and Nora lay still.

He smashed open the glass tube, ripped off the restraints, and then seized her body, cradling her gently. She was stone cold. Her skin had turned blue, and was icy to the touch. No breath came from her blue lips, and her eyes were shut. Freeze looked around desperately for signs of life.

"No!" he gasped. "No, no, no, Nora, please! Please, don't leave me!"

The room was frozen – he ripped his helmet off and began desperately breathing into her mouth, trying to resuscitate her. "I…I've done so much to save you," he whispered. "It…it can't have all been in vain! Nora, please, you have to live! If you don't live…what little remains of my heart will freeze and die. It beat only for you, my love. You were the only thing that reminded me what love and warmth and joy felt like. Without you, I am…truly lost."

He sobbed, holding her gently in his arms. "Please, my love," he whispered. "Please don't leave me."

He cried softly, letting his frozen tears slide down his cheeks and rest on Nora's. They settled there like snowflakes, delicate and beautiful on her lifeless face.

And then he felt her stir in his arms. His heart soared in hope as he heard her draw a breath of air. "Victor?" she whispered, opening her wide, blue eyes. They were the same color as her skin now, and she raised an icy hand to touch his cheek.

Freeze let out another sob. Her touch no longer burned him – it was as cold as his own flesh. But nothing in his life had ever felt more warm.

He seized her hand, planting icy kisses on it, kisses that she returned, sobbing in happiness. Although objectively cold as ice, their bodies were the same temperature now, and to each other, they felt perfect together.

"This really isn't so bad, Victor," whispered Nora, smiling at him as they lay naked in each other's arms, their breath showing in the frosty air, but not feeling anything but utterly happy. "Trust you to make a mountain out of a molehill, Mr. Raincloud."

"My love, I will never be gloomy again," he whispered. "This frozen existence with you beside me is now a paradise."

"Is that a joke?" she asked, grinning. "Parad'ice'?"

"I am not in the habit of making ice-related puns, as you well know, Nora," retorted Freeze. "Besides, the Joker already did that one."

She gazed up into his eyes. "Will you have to go back to Arkham?" she asked, quietly.

"I will never go back," he replied, firmly. "I have you with me now, and that is all I have ever wanted. There is no need for me to harm others anymore."

"I believe you, Victor," she murmured. "But I'm not sure they'll trust you enough to release you…"

"I have told you, my love, I will never go back," he repeated. "We will leave Gotham now, tonight, and go somewhere together. Somewhere cold. We will never be seen here again."

"Where will we go?" she asked, snuggling against him.

"The Arctic," he said. "Or perhaps the Antarctic – there are fewer people there. And we have no need of people anymore. We will create our own icy Garden of Eden, with only the two of us, together forever."

He stroked her hair back from her cold face. "Our icy bodies mean that we will age much slower than regular people," he murmured. "So we will have a very long life together. I will build you a palace of ice and snow. We will swim in the icy waters and catch fish to eat, and we will sleep wrapped in each other's arms at night. No one will ever disturb us. And we will be so happy, my love. More happy than I ever could have imagined possible."

"Hmm, not sure I like to think of myself as Eve," she said, frowning. "I mean, I never would have listened to a talking snake. But your vision of the Garden of Eden kinda sounds wonderful," she whispered, kissing him.

He dressed in his underclothes, leaving his Freeze suit on the floor of the laboratory and holding out his hand to Nora. "Shall we, my love?"

They opened the door to snow falling down on Gotham City, and disappeared into the night.


	9. Chapter 9

"Have you found Victor?" asked Dr. Leland, as she saw the shadow of Batman at the window of her office.

He climbed inside. "No," he murmured. "But I found his suit."

He placed Freeze's helmet on the desk. "It was on the floor of the laboratory in the old Gothcorp basement, where the accident took place," he murmured. "The room was frozen solid."

Dr. Leland looked at him. "What…do you think happened to him?" she asked, slowly.

"To him? Nothing," he replied. "But the machines had been recently used. And the chemicals in the tubes were similar to the ones in Freeze's blood."

"I don't understand," said Dr. Leland.

Batman was silent. "I think…his wife recreated the accident," he murmured. "Except she used the chemicals on herself."

Dr. Leland stared at him. "You mean she voluntarily made herself…like Victor?"

Batman nodded. "Love can make people do strange things, Dr. Leland," he murmured. "I guess she would rather be a monster with him than a human being without him."

Dr. Leland sighed, going over to look out the window. "Any ideas where they've gone?" she asked.

"Away from Gotham," he replied. "That's all I care about."

"You mean you're going to let them go?" she asked, gently.

Batman paused. "Freeze was a criminal only to save his wife," he murmured. "His wife has now been saved. And they're together. I doubt they want anything more to do with crime, let alone the rest of humanity. If they don't bother my city, I'm not going to leave it in search of them. Gotham is my concern. If they start causing trouble elsewhere, I'm going to hunt them down. But I sincerely doubt they will."

He climbed to the window. "I always thought Victor's heart was completely frozen toward the world and everything in it," said Dr. Leland. "But I guess true love can melt even the iciest heart. Wherever they are together, I hope they're happy."

Batman jumped out of the window and glided off into the night. "So do I," he murmured.

**The End**


End file.
